Election Special: Ahn Heads Into Exile to Plot 2017 Campaign

I'll be 박

Software tycoon Ahn Cheol-soo has said he will leave for the U.S. immediately after casting his vote in the presidential election tomorrow. Ahn – a proponent of what he termed 'new politics' - suddenly pulled out of the race last month after long-running on-off negotiations with Moon Jae-in failed to reach an agreement to field a unified opposition candidate.

Officially Ahn will spend time in America 'pondering his future', which sources indicate involves a highly-publicized return to Korea after the media coverage of Park's victory has abated, followed by three years of hints about entering the 2017 campaign, a book and a lecture tour.

Some expect Ahn to form his own party after this year's election proved that nobody else would invite him to theirs, and it is thought the decision over the name is likely to occupy the ex-candidate for the most of 2013.

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Election Special: Big Surge in Eligible Voters for Park Geun-hye

Victory a coup for Park

The National Election Commission has said that the number of eligible voters in tomorrow's presidential election has increased by 2.81 million, with the greatest increase coming in people aged between 50 and 60 – the group most likely to vote in large numbers for right-wing candidate Park Geun-hye. Conversely, the number of voters in their 20s and 30s – who typically vote for left-wing candidates – actually shrank by around 1.17 million.

According to political and demographic experts, the increase in the number of eligible voters in their 50s has been caused by more people being born at that age following the success of the 2008 movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", whereas the drop in younger people can be explained by Korea's high suicide numbers. As such, Park's victory - which will be a coup for the daughter of Korea's former military leader - may be much more certain than expected, and people shouldn't be surprised by it.

Park came under fire by the National Election Commission last week for allegedly - but wrongly - engaging in illegal campaign activity after apparently employing 800 people to work out of a Seoul apartment and post negative comments online about Moon Jae-in. Park's campaign later explained they were employed as her hairstylists. It was thought the move indicated that the Commission would support Moon in the election, but in recent days the body appears to have swung back towards the ruling party and Park's candidacy. While the complaint still stands, Park is expected to pardon herself after her election.

Before opinion polling was banned earlier this month, newspaper polls suggested the gap between Moon Jae-in and was narrowing, with Park Geun-hye's lead over the appeasement party candidate falling to 47.6 percent versus 43.6 percent – within the margin of manipulation of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. However, some experts have pointed out the narrowing of the polls is a common media phenomenon when public opinion otherwise shows a clear outcome likely which doesn't contribute towards sales and viewership, as witnessed earlier this year in the American presidential election.

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Ahn - The Lights Are On But Nobody's Home

Ahn Cheol-soo, the 2017 Presidential candidate for the Ahn Sincere New Politics Party, reportedly pretended to be out yesterday when 2013 Presidential candidate Moon Jae-in went to his house for a meeting.

Ahn shocked the nation last week when he made a decision - to withdraw from the Presidential race. He was said by sources close to him to have pulled out because he was upset by what he saw as underhand tactics from Moon's camp in negotiations to field a single opposition candidate. Ahn's one precondition – that someone whose surname began with 'A' should be the unified candidate – ultimately proved an insurmountable obstacle to reaching a compromise. Ahn had promised to pursue a 'new politics' if elected, criticizing the old political doctrines of compromise and decision making.

Moon aides who accompanied the candidate to Ahn's house claim they saw Ahn hiding behind the blinds in his window while members of his camp claimed to not know where their leader was, saying that the lights were on but nobody was home. But under pressure, they finally said that even if he was at home he couldn't come out to play because Ahn had decided that "Moon was not his friend".

Moon is desperate to inherit Ahn's supporters, and opposition figures have pressured Ahn to fully endorse the remaining left-wing frontrunner, but this put Ahn in a difficult position as his original demand to be the unified candidate of the left was premised on the idea that only he could win in an election against Park Geun-hye, but he now finds himself being asked to help prove himself wrong. Worse, after recent discussions opened up the possibility of changing Korea's highest office from a five-year one-term presidency to a four-year two-term one, it has raised fears in the Ahn camp that he may be being asked to endorse the candidate he will be running against in the 2016 campaign.

After pretending to be out, Ahn later failed to turn up to a scheduled press conference to detail his support for Moon, with a source close to the withdrawn candidate complaining that "Moon's camp deliberately leaked information about his visit to Ahn's home" in order to pressure him.

Later however, video reportedly emerged of Ahn supporters making a successful visit to their leader's home.

Moon is now said to be considering disguising himself as a delivery driver in order to meet Ahn at his house to gain the appearance of an endorsement and win credibility with Ahn's supporters.

Park Geun-hye will be announced as Korea's first female president on December 20th.

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